Danielle Bradbery Says Being on ‘The Voice’ Made Her Grow Up Fast

Danielle Bradbery was only 16 years old when she was crowned the Season 4 winner of The Voice in 2013. For the singer, the sudden exposure and fame thrust her into adulthood and a professional career while her friends were still enjoying their teenage years, causing her to grow up quickly.

"Being in the music industry, personally, just with everything that I’ve been able to experience, and being on The Voice at such a young age, you have to be a little bit more mature, just to tame yourself," Bradbery tells The Boot. "You’re out there in front of everybody, and you have to not be crazy and not be immature. You have to have this certain personality.

"For somebody young, you have to grow up, like, two years older than what you are," Bradbery adds. "I feel like, as years went on, I naturally feel older than I actually am. So, in my situation ... I wasn’t living the normal 16-year-old life."

Bradbery's sprint through her remaining childhood years and into adulthood provided at least one positive: the ability to create a more developed sound. Now 21, Bradbery is still young, but she's done even more growing up and maturing over the last four years -- just listen to her newest album, I Don't Believe We've Met.

"I was going through stuff a little bit more faster than the normal. I was in relationships. I was getting to know more about that, and going through a lot of that -- just a little bit more about life. I have a lot more of an appreciation for my parents, my family. And, usually, you don’t do that until you’re a little bit older," Bradbery notes. "But now, I moved out when I was 18; I moved to Nashville. None of my family’s here in Nashville; they’re all back in Texas. There was a lot more of, you had to grow up quick.

"I will say, this sophomore album is a lot more mature, because I feel like I experienced a little bit more than I imagined," she adds. "I don’t think it’s too, too mature. I think it’s about, naturally, what I’ve been through, and a lot of people have."

Bradbery took four years between her freshman and sophomore albums, but she was anything but idle during that time. Instead, while working on honing her sound and doing some self-evaluation, she also had the opportunity to open for artists including Hunter Hayes, Scotty McCreery and Miranda Lambert, and for a co-headlining tour featuring Thomas Rhett and Brett Eldredge.

"There was a lot that I had to work on and figure out: just, being onstage and learning how to carry myself," the singer reflects. "Danielle Bradbery as an artist -- I wanted to know exactly who that was and what that was going to look like. So getting to tour with people like Thomas Rhett and Brett Eldredge -- they’re some of the biggest stars out there. They know exactly what they’re going out there and doing. Every time I watched them perform, it’s like, ‘Wow.’ I’m taking a lot of mental notes. Because they go out there, and they’re some of the best entertainers out there.

"And so, it’s things like that," Bradbery adds. "Just taking a lot of mental notes, hearing what they have to say about a lot of things, and then them telling me to just be myself and have fun. So, it’s a little bit of everything."

I Don't Believe We've Met is available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes.